Le Mans 24 hour race 1996

The victorious TWR-Porsche WSC-95 from Davy Jones , Alexander Wurz and Manuel Reuter

Porsche 911 GT1 in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

The Courage C36 with starting number 5, which Henri Pescarolo , Franck Lagorce and Emmanuel Collard drove to seventh place in the overall standings

The 64th 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 64 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from June 15 to 16, 1996 on the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

Before the race

In 1995, the former racing driver and current racing team owner Reinhold Joest was looking for a suitable racing vehicle for the 1996 24-hour race. He found what he was looking for at Porsche in Zuffenhausen . Joest, owner of a customer team, had a long-term partnership with the motorsport department of the sports car manufacturer. In Zuffenhausen there were two unused racing chassis. The basis of these two chassis was the Group-C - Jaguar XJR-14 from 1991. Tom Walkinshaw derived two Spyder bodies from this closed prototype , which were then bought by Porsche in 1994. The aim was to use the vehicles in the IMSA WSC racing series in 1995 with the start of the 1995 Daytona 24-hour race . After the IMSA changed the technical regulations ten days before the race, Porsche decided not to participate in this series.

Now the two chassis, without engines, were orphaned in Zuffenhausen. Joest borrowed the two chassis from Porsche for a fee and had them equipped with engines and racing technology. He came to the race in Le Mans with the two race-ready and extensively tested cars and entered them in the LMP1 class. He signed up Manuel Reuter , who won the 1989 24-hour race in the Sauber C9 , and the American Davy Jones , who had been successful in sports car racing since the 1980s, as driver for the car with the number 7 . Third in the team was the 22-year-old Austrian Alexander Wurz , who, unlike his teammates, had absolutely no experience in sports cars. Car number 8 was driven by the two former Italian Formula 1 drivers Michele Alboreto and Pierluigi Martini , who shared the cockpit with Didier Theys .

After years of absence, Porsche returned to Le Mans in 1996 with the 911 GT1 . The Porsche 911 GT1 was primarily designed for racing from 1996 and was built in small numbers as a street-legal super sports car for homologation, in order to be used in the USA, in Le Mans and the European BPR Global GT Series and, from 1997, the FIA GT Championship to be admitted. At least 25 copies were required for this, but the FIA ​​was accommodating. The engine, as usual a six-cylinder boxer, but a water-cooled biturbo engine with 440 kW (600 hp), was based on the power unit of the successful Group C racing cars Porsche 956 and Porsche 962 and was, as is usual for racing cars in this category, before installed on the rear axle . A fixed rear wing provided the contact pressure necessary for driving stability at speeds of well over 300 km / h. The drivers were Hans-Joachim Stuck , Bob Wollek , Thierry Boutsen , Karl Wendlinger , Yannick Dalmas and Scott Goodyear .

The vehicles in the LMP1 class were almost entirely equipped with Porsche engines. In the Courage C36 and in the Kremer K8 Spyder , Porsche Type 935 3 liter turbo engines were used.

The course of the race

Pierluigi Martini achieved the fastest training time in the Joest Porsche with a time of 3: 46.682 minutes. The two Ferrari 333SPs driven by Eric van de Poele and Andy Evans were surprisingly fast, but both of them retired in the race. At least Van de Poele was able to achieve the fastest race lap.

The race turned into an astonishingly one-sided affair for Joest-Porsche. Although the vehicles had not contested a single race before Le Mans, they dominated from the start. The car with the number 7 ran without any problems except for an unplanned change of the front brake discs. The car with the number 8 had problems with the electrical system during the night, which led to failure after 317 laps.

At the finish line, after almost 24 hours of uninterrupted leadership, the number 7 had a lead of one lap over the works Porsche from Stuck / Boutsen / Wollek. For Bob Wollek it was not enough for the overall victory in his 25th appearance. The success of the TWR-Porsche WSC-95 was the first success of an open racing car in Le Mans since 1981 , when Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell stayed victorious in the Porsche 936 .

At just 22 years old, Alexander Wurz became the youngest Le Mans winner in the history of this race.

Results

Pilots by nationality

46 French	19 British	15 Japanese	12 Americans	8 Germans
7 Belgians	7 Italians	4 Brazilians	3 Dutch	3 New Zealanders
3 Austrians	3 Sweden	3 Swiss	2 Canadians	2 Spaniards
2 fins	2 South Africans	1 Australian	1 Dane	1 Venezuelan
1 Monegasse

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	LMP1	7th	Joest Racing	Davy Jones Alexander Wurz Manuel Reuter	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	354
2	GT1	25th	Porsche AG	Hans Joachim Stuck Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	353
3	GT1	26th	Porsche AG	Karl Wendlinger Yannick Dalmas Scott Goodyear	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	341
4th	GT1	30th	David Price Racing	John Nielsen Thomas Bscher Peter Kox	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	G	338
5	GT1	34	Gulf Racing	Pierre-Henri Raphanel Lindsay Owen-Jones David Brabham	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	M.	335
6th	GT1	29	Harrods Mach One Racing	Andy Wallace Olivier Grouillard Derek Bell	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	G	328
7th	LMP1	5	Courage Compétition	Henri Pescarolo Franck Lagorce Emmanuel Collard	Courage C36	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	327
8th	GT1	39	Team Bigazzi SRL	Nelson Piquet Johnny Cecotto Danny Sullivan	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	M.	324
9	GT1	33	Gulf Racing	Ray Bellm James Weaver JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	M.	323
10	GTI	48	Canaska Southwind Motorsport	Price Cobb Shawn Hendricks Mark Dismore	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10	M.	320
11	GT1	38	Team Bigazzi SRL	Jacques Laffite Steve Soper Marc Duez	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	M.	318
12	GT2	79	Roock Racing Team	Guy Martinolle Ralf Kellener's Bruno Eichmann	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	317
13	LMP1	4th	Courage Compétition	Mario Andretti Jan Lammers Derek Warwick	Courage C36	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	315
14th	GT2	71	New Hardware Racing	Bill Farmer Greg Murphy Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P	313
15th	GT1	23	NISMO	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiro Hasemi Toshio Suzuki	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	Nissan 2.8L Turbo I6	B.	307
16	GT2	75	Team Kunimitsu Honda	Kunimitsu Takahashi Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida	Honda NSX	Honda 3.0L V6	Y	305
17th	GT2	83	New Hardware Racing	Stéphane Ortelli Andy Pilgrim Andrew Bagnall	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P	299
18th	GT2	77	Seikel Motorsport	Guy Fuster Manfred Jurasz Takashi Suzuki	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P	297
19th	GT1	28	Newcastle United Lister	Geoff Lee's Tiff Needell Anthony Reid	Lister Storm GTS	Jaguar 7.0L V12	M.	295
20th	GT2	82	Larbre Compétition	Patrice Goueslard André Ahrlé Patrick Bourdais	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	284
21st	GT1	50	Viper Team Oreca	Philippe Gache Eric Hélary Olivier Beretta	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10	M.	283
22nd	GT1	27	Chereau Sports	Jean-Luc Chéreau Pierre Yver Jack Leconte	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	279
23	GT1	49	Canaska Southwind Motorsport	Alain Cudini Victor Sifton John Morton	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10	M.	269
24	GT1	46	Team Menicon SARD Co. Ltd.	Alain Ferté Mauro Martini Pascal Fabre	SARD MC8-R	Toyota 4.0L Turbo V8	D.	256
25th	LMP2	20th	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Yōjirō Terada Jim Downing Franck Fréon	Kudzu DLM	Mazda 2.0L 3- rotor	G	251
Failed
26th	LMP1	8th	Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Pierluigi Martini Didier Theys	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	300
27	LMP2	14th	Welter Racing	Patrick Gonin Pierre Petit Marc Rostan	WR LM96	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	221
28	LMP1	3	Courage Compétition	Didier Cottaz Philippe Alliot Jérôme Policand	Courage C36	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	215
29	GT1	22nd	NISMO	Aguri Suzuki Masahiko Kageyama Masahiko Kondō	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	Nissan 2.8L Turbo I6	B.	209
30th	WSC	17th	Racing For Belgium	Eric van de Poele Marc Goossens Eric Bachelart	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12	P	208
31	GT1	57	Team SARD Toyota Co. Ltd.	Masanori Sekiya Hidetoshi Mitsusada Masami Kageyama	Toyota Supra LM	Toyota 3S-GTE 2.1L Turbo I4	D.	205
32	LMP2	15th	Welter Racing	William David Sébastien Enjolras Arnaud Trévisiol	WR LM96	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	162
33	WSC	19th	Riley & Scott Cars Inc.	Wayne Taylor Scott Sharp Jim Pace	Riley & Scott Mk.III	Oldsmobile Aurora 4.0L V8	P	157
34	GT1	53	Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing	Fabien Giroix Jean-Denis Delétraz Maurizio Sandro Sala	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12	M.	146
35	GT1	59	Ennea SRL Igol Ferrari Club Italia	Robin Donovan Piero Nappi Tetsuya Ota	Ferrari F40 GTE	Ferrari F120B 3.5L Turbo V8	P	129
36	GT2	74	Agusta Racing Team, Ltd.	Riccardo Agusta Almo Coppelli Patrick Camus	Callaway Corvette	Chevrolet 6.2L V8	D.	114
37	LMP1	1	Kremer Racing	Christophe Bouchut Jürgen Lässig Harri Toivonen	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	110
38	GT1	37	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Antonio Herrmann Wido Rössler	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	107
39	GT1	44	Ennea SRL Igol	Luciano della Noce Anders Olofsson Carl Rosenblad	Ferrari F40 GTE	Ferrari F120B 3.5L Turbo V8	P	98
40	GT1	51	Dodge Viper Team Oreca	Dominique Dupuy Perry McCarthy Justin Bell	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10	M.	96
41	GT1	55	Roock Racing Team	Jean-Pierre Jarier Jesús Pareja Dominic Chappell	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	93
42	GT1	56	Pilot pen racing	Michel Ferté Olivier Thévenin Nicolas Leboissetier	Ferrari F40 LM	Ferrari F120B 3.5L Turbo V8	M.	93
43	LMP1	2	Kremer Racing	Steve Fossett George Fouche Stanley Dickens	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	58
44	GT2	73	Eleven Haberthur Racing	Michel Neugarten Toni Seiler Bruno Ilien	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	46
45	GT2	81	Team Marcos	Cor Euser Thomas Erdos Pascal Dro	Marcos Mantara LM600	Chevrolet 6.1L V8	D.	40
46	GT1	45	Ennea SRL Igol	Jean-Marc Gounon Éric Bernard Paul Belmondo	Ferrari F40 GTE	Ferrari F120B 3.5L Turbo V8	P	40
47	GT2	70	EMKA Productions	Steve O'Rourke Guy Holmes Soames Langton	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	32
48	WSC	18th	Rocketsports Inc.	Andy Evans Yvan Muller Fermín Velez	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F130E 4.0L V12	P	31
Not started
49	LMP2	9	Didier Bonnet	Jean-Claude Basso Edouard Sezionale Thierry Lecerf	Debora LMP296	Cosworth 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	1

¹ engine failure during training

Only in the entry list

Here you can find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race, but did not take part for various reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires
50	GT1	32	Société Legeay Sports	Marc Sourd Stéphane Daoudi Lionel Robert Jean-Louis Déglise	Renault Spider	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	D.
51	GT1	40	BBA Compétition	Emmanuel Clérico Laurent Lécuyer Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	Venturi 600SLM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
52	GT2	72	Stadler Motorsport	Enzo Calderari Lilian Bryner Uli Richter	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P
53	LMP2	10	ASA Sequanie	Guillaume Gomez	Debora LMP295	Cosworth 2.0L Turbo I4
54	LMP2	11	Graff Racing	David Terrien Soheil Ayari	WR LM94	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
55	LMP2	12	Bertrand Gachot	Bertrand Gachot	WR LM94	SsangYong 2.0L Turbo I4
56	LMP2	16	Alain Lebrun	Pierre Bruneau Patrick Camus Philippe Sinault	WR LM93	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
57	GT1	31	Société Legeay Sports	Marc Sourd Lionel Robert Stéphane Daoudi Benjamin Roy	Renault Spider	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
58	GT1	41	BBA Compétition	Stanley Dickens aria Luyendyk Michel Ligonnet John Hugenholtz	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12
59	GT1	42	Callaway Competition	Enrico Bertaggia Boris Said III Frank Jelinski	Callaway C7R	Chevrolet 6.2L V8
60	GT1	47	Kremer Racing	Tomás Saldaña Prince Alfonso de Orleans Bourbon Paul Burdell	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
61	GT1	52	Societé Viper Team Oreca	Philippe Gache Eric Hélary Olivier Beretta	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 356-T6 8.0L V10
62	GT1	60	ADA engineering	Thorkild Thyrring Kris Nissen Phil Andrews Max Angelelli Eliseo Salazar	De Tomaso Pantera	Ford 5.0L V8
63	GT1	62	Monaco Racing Team	Patrick Tambay Gildo Pallanca Pastor Derek Hill	Bugatti EB110S	Bugatti 3.5L Turbo V12
64	GT2	76	Team Jumbo Pao de Acucar	Manuel Mello-Breyner Thomaz Mello-Breyner Pedro Mello-Breyner	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
65	GT2	78	Richard Jones	Nick Adams Chris Gleason Gérard MacQuillan Richard Jones	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
66	GT2	80	Team Marcos	Win Percy Robert Schirle David Warnock Allen Lloyd	Marcos Mantara LM600	Chevrolet 6.1L V8
67	GT2	85	Yellow Racing	Christian Heinkélé Lucien Guitteny Jean Guy	Ferrari F355	Ferrari F129B 3.5L V8
68	LMP2	21st	Sylvain Boulay	Sylvain Boulay	Tiga FJ94	Buick 4.5L V6
69	GT1	24	NISMO	Masahiro Hasemi Hideo Fukuyama	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	Nissan 2.6L Turbo I6
70	GT1	35	Lotus Racing Team	Mike Hezemans Alex Portman	Lotus Esprit V8	Lotus 3.5L Turbo V8
71	GT1	36	Lotus Racing Team	Jan Lammers Perry McCarthy	Lotus Esprit V8	Lotus 3.5L Turbo V8
72	GT1	43	Callaway Competition	Boris Said III Enrico Bertaggia	Callaway C7R	Chevrolet 6.3L V8
73	GT2	54	Gary Ward		Honda NSX	Honda 3.0L V6
74	GT1	58	Société Larbre Compétition		McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12
75	GT1	61	Franck Muller		McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.1L V12
76	GT2	84	Jean-François Metz	Jean-François Metz Patrick Bornhauser Dominique Lacaud	VBM 4000GTC	PRV Douvrin-Sodemo 3.0L Turbo V6
77	GT2		Lanzante Motorsport		Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
78	WSC		Giampiero Moretti		Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F130E 4.0L V12

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Davy Jones	Alexander Wurz	Manuel Reuter	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	Overall victory
LMP2	Yojiro Terada	Jim Downing	Franck Fréon	Kudzu DLM	Rank 25
GT1	Hans Joachim Stuck	Thierry Boutsen	Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1	Rank 2
GT2	Guy Martinolle	Ralf Kelleners	Bruno Eichmann	Porsche 911 GT2	Rank 12

Racing data

• Registered: 78
• Started: 48
• Valued: 26
• Race classes: 4
• Spectators: 170,000
• Honorary starter of the race: Alain Delon , French actor
• Weather on the race weekend: warm and dry
• Route length: 13,600 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00.196 hours
• Rounds of the winning team: 354
• Distance of the winning team: 4814.400 km
• Winner's average: 200.555 km / h
• Pole position: Pierluigi Martini - TWR-Porsche WSC-95 (# 7) - 3.46.682 = 215.985 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Eric van de Poele - Ferrari 333SP (# 17) - 3: 46,958 = 215.723 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: Les 24 heures du Mans 1996. Editions IHM, Brussels 1996, ISBN 2-930120-08-8 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 1996  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information about the TWR-Porsche WSC-95